Robert Michael Oliver
Robert Michael Oliver, Ph.D., co-founder of The Sanctuary Theatre and The Performing Knowledge Project, is an educator, poet, solo performer, director, and playwright. With a BA in English and Theatre and an MFA in Directing from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, Michael combines practical know-how with knowledge. As Artistic Director of Sanctuary, he spearheaded its transcultural, multidisciplinary performance style. The critically acclaimed world premiere of his Embodying Poe marked his foray into Solo Performance and the launch of the Performing Knowledge Project’s Poetry in Performance series. As a master educator with over 30 years of experience teaching theatre, writing and humanities, Michael specializes in constructivist pedagogies, and has presented papers, lectures, and workshops on course construction, the art of exhibitions, and theatre history and performance. A longtime member of Playwrights’ Forum II, Michael has had productions or readings of many of his plays; he’s received grants from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities and Poets & Writers, Inc., and was a selected participant in GWU’s Jenny McKean Moore Workshop. He is Metro Editor and a columnist for Maryland Theatre Guide and reviews professional theatre across the area; he has acted in numerous film/theatre projects, including the award-winning web series, Cap South. His short film of his performance of The Raven, as well as his performances from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and Song of Myself were presented at Performetry: Old Poems, New Poems, Your Poems @ BloomBars in 2013. He will perform in Performing Knowledge’s Fringe Festival production of Whitman’s Song of Myself in 2014. performingknowledge.org; http://rmichaeloliver.com/